In 1966, I was appointed Cultural Attache at the American Embassy, Oslo, Nrway. In that capacity I also served as the Director of the United States Educational Foundation, Norway, which administered the Fulbright Educational Exchange Program in Norway.
During my tenure there, I spent most of my time dealing with students and intellectuals in Norway regarding the Vietnam War. Lyndon Johnson was as unpopular then in Europe as Bush is now.
When Johnson decided not to run for reelection in 1968, the Democrats nominated Hubert Humphry and the Republicans Richard Nixon. I discovered that I had more in common with the conservative politics of the Republicans than I did with the liberal politics of the Democrats, especially as espoused by Hubert Humphry. I regarded Humphrey as a flaming liberal who brought little that was new to the table, especially when it came to American foreign policy. I therefore gave my vote to Richard Nixon, the first Republican candidate for President that I had ever voted for.
As we know, Nixon won, and then won again in a landslide. He later had to resign because of Watergate.
I have not voted for a Democratic candidate since then and this includes Carter, Clinton, and lastly Kerry.
Incidentally, one of my last chores in Norway was to serve as Embassy escort for Hubert Humphrey after he lost the election to Nixon. Humphrey was of Norwegian ancestry. His trip to Norway was a kind of a last hurrah. During that duty, I learned to respect him far more than I suspected when I discovered that he was a real human being and not just a liberal windbag. |
